Worst car you've driven ?

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gRoberts
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by gRoberts »

I've only owned 4 cars since driving.

Proton Persona 1.5 GLSI - Great little car apart from the gearbox falling apart and after fixing, popping out of 5th gear at 70-80mph.
Vauxhall Astra 1.6 8v Envoy - Again, great little car, ok on fuel, but suffered from mayo in the header and I was paying £9k for an V reg... Finance :(
Peugeot 406 2.1 TD LX - Fuel gauge used to drop quarter of a tank by going up a hill. It didn't always go back up again afterwards. Breaks scared the sh*t out of me, had to stamp to get them to stop. Accelerated on it's own accord lol
Mitsubishi Shogun - Great car, just a little too big for me.
Ford Mondeo MK3 (Facelift) 2.0 TDCI Zetec - Watch this space, so far it's made me smile and i've only been driving it a day lol
FarmerPug
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by FarmerPug »

There have been a few truly terrible cars:

1990's Vauxhall Corsa 1.4- with about 140,000 miles on it. Firstly i dont like vauxalls at all, but i decided to try this car out but what a terrible machine, every part felt like it had been specifically loosened on purpose, the gearbox was sloppy so bad infact i couldnt get 1st gear, and it sounded absolutley crap.

2002 Renault Clio 1.2 16v- This replaced my fiat panda, and although the clio was more powerful, i hated it from the day i got it, it just lacked the good drive of the panda such as the tight steering or slick gearbox, in the clio it felt as if the steering didnt use fluid but instead playdough and the gearbox bopped up and down, plus it gave me a backache

Vw bora- I just looked at one and hated it instantly because of its square headlights, then i got in and hated it more because its interior was more basic than a tent then i listened to its diesel engine and just gave up.

VW polo SDI- It was louder than a tractor, and no more economical than a 205 so what is the point in it.

Citroen BX- I really wanted to like it, and i only gave £20 for it but the hydraulics didnt work so i did not get to use it.
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STALLED
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by STALLED »

Holden Viva (Chevrolet Lacetti - Star in the reasonably priced car)...

Nasty little thing. Worst NVH of any car I have driven. Crap autobox, gutless. Looks dowdy. Handled like crap.
1997 406 D8 ST Manual 2.0L!

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mjb
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by mjb »

Everyone knows what I'm about to say...

Renault Laguna Mk.1. 95bhp engine which on some days couldn't even get up the hill to work (I reckon my V6 could easily accelerate to over 100mph up there). No aircon. Rolled like a very unstable boat in a storm. Half the bolts under the bonnet were loose... utter crap.
<steve_earwig> I think this forum is more about keeping our cars going with minimal outlay than giving our cars more reason to go bang
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eoin27
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by eoin27 »

I genuinely dont think Ive ever driven a really bad car. One that would make you sick from driving it. I suppose if I had to choose it would be a 2000 SEAT Ibiza I used to own before purchasing my first 6. It wasnt comfortable at 50mph and the brakes were diabolical. They were susceptable to being involved in accidents. I got a lucky break selling it for decent money. My first car, A 1993 Nissan Micra was utter sh*te but it did exactly what it was supposed to do....be a small, economical runabout.

It also had the ability to flip an Opel Corsa! :oops:
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flyerdave
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by flyerdave »

Alegro - Brand new - Got in, started it up, put in gear and gear stick came away in my hand. Car spent first 3 months of it's life going from home to the garage. Don't know what happened after that as it went back and my sister (who bought it) has never purchased another British car since.

That was back in the late 70's.
Looking for another 406
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sirwiggum
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by sirwiggum »

1993 Ford Orion.

Early 1.8 Zetec, supposed to be the saloon version of the XR3i. Built on the worst Escort base ever designed (the mk5). Rust, electrical issues, leaking fuel tanks, engine stalling, running on 3 cylinders.

All with only 78k on the clock!
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Bailes1992
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by Bailes1992 »

sirwiggum wrote:1993 Ford Orion.

Early 1.8 Zetec, supposed to be the saloon version of the XR3i. Built on the worst Escort base ever designed (the mk5). Rust, electrical issues, leaking fuel tanks, engine stalling, running on 3 cylinders.

All with only 78k on the clock!
My Mum had a 1992 Ford Orion from new with a 1.6 Zetec engine in Ghia flavour and the only problem we really had with it was when it was 2 months old and the power steering pump sized up somehow meaning the car wouldn't start! Other than that, in 9 years we had it we had a leak int he radiator and the engine overheated with no ill effects, and once or twice before we got rid of it, it would sturggle to start.
All in all, a pretty reliable car!
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DaiRees
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by DaiRees »

I had a '94 Mondeo LX that had the 1.8 zetec engine, 'twas a cracking car. Suffered the old drifting to the left issue that Mundanos of that time had but other than that it was very nice and well built, it also used to regularly return a combined late 30s mpg with one notable holiday to Scotland yeilding 44.4, over 1400 miles most of which were done at 90+ mph, wish my 406 would do those kind of numbers.
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Welly
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by Welly »

I had an older G-reg Ford Onion Ghia with the [spit] CVH injection engine [/spit] and to be fair is was probably one of the easiest cars to own and nothing really went wrong with it.

The pulling-left thing was fixable I seem to remember there was an engineering company who developed a 'shim' kinda thing to correct the geometry. It was crap though sending every car out the factory doing this and I experienced it myself with a previous companies Mundano - it was quite severe at speed :o
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DaiRees
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by DaiRees »

Welly wrote:The pulling-left thing was fixable I seem to remember there was an engineering company who developed a 'shim' kinda thing to correct the geometry. It was crap though sending every car out the factory doing this and I experienced it myself with a previous companies Mundano - it was quite severe at speed :o
Mine never really "pulled", it would just wander slowly off line :lol: , you just had to apply the tiniest pressure to the steering wheel to keep it straight at cruising speed, the wheel was dead central though. Then you had to apply 5deg of right steer to keep it straight under heavy braking and 5deg of left steer to keep it straight under heavy acceleration, so it was obviously geometry related no matter how many times Frod tried to claim it was tracking or tyres. I wouldn't have described it as dangerous at all though, more of a slightly unwelcome characteristic :? .
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sirwiggum
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by sirwiggum »

Prob a characteristic of Ford getting their head round FWD on a reasonably large car, different length driveshafts to left and right.

My Orion was an absolute lemon, put me off Ford for life. Shame too, as I had fond memories of the old Fords in the family (Mk2 Escorts, Cortinas and Granadas).
1999 Honda Accord Coupe 2.0 Vtec Automatic
Previously 2002 406 HDi 90 Rapier Monaco Blue
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supafrisk
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Re: Worst car you've driven ?

Post by supafrisk »

Everyone knows what I am going to say lol
Both hire cars, the Poxhall Rectum "life" that felt like you'd been given a life sentence driving it, mainly the world's most uncomfortable seats, closely followed by the new Ford Mundane which had seats as soft and cuddly as a park bench. In February. With a hoar frost.
Also the stupid stupid bing bing bing when you didn't put a seatbelt on (not compulsory with passengers in in my job due to the risk of them using it as a noose).

Technically, I could say the passat that I am driving now, but she is a good, solid car. Her only faults are what were caused by other drivers with no respect and got left. Now she's had some TLC she's a different car altogether and bar all of the pugs I've had, probably the best.
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